England are desperately trying to distance themselves from the surreal headlines swirling around them. World Cups always throw up the unexpected but the squad's night out at the dwarf-racing is in danger of overshadowing Sunday's game against Georgia. For relatively new squad members such as Tom Wood it must seem as if the world has gone mad, which it probably has.

Luckily, Wood is an unflappable character in no danger of being mistaken for the flash, night-clubbing sort. He has been busy studying England's next opponents and believes there are lessons to be learned from the visible hunger of the lower-ranked nations. "It doesn't matter if you're using a five-star bar of soap in the morning," he says. "People always think about the advantages we get, the extra money backing the team and the luxuries we have. But at the end of the day it's 15 versus 15 on a square of grass. It doesn't matter about the luxuries. You've got to be willing to front up."

The 24-year-old Wood reckons the Georgians could potentially pose more problems to England in Dunedin than they did against Scotland on Wednesday. "They'll be playing on pure passion and adrenaline. They're a proud team and I don't think the four-day turnaround will affect them. I think it'll make them more resilient. They'll be battle hardened and up for it, they'll come out all guns blazing. They won't give us an inch of space or respect, they'll plough into us.

"We're going to have to be very alert. People in the lower-tier teams know they only have a couple of opportunities to take a scalp or make a statement. It's great for the competition and it means there are potential slip-ups all over the place. The gap is closing between the top teams and the bottom teams."

The majority of sides, believes Wood, also need no extra incentive when it comes to facing England. "Everyone wants to take us down a peg or two … teams will raise their game against teams like us. We're aware of that, so we have to make sure there's never any complacency. We'd rather be a team on a pedestal that everyone wants to beat rather than a team that no one cares about. It's easy to become slightly snobbish when everything is done for you but you have to use that to your advantage and make sure the hunger is still there. I think we've got that balance right as a team."

The Coventry-reared flanker's admirable sense of perspective was further enhanced by a spell playing for North Otago as a teenager. Life in the Worcester academy was, he felt, no substitute for playing a good standard of rugby for the sheer enjoyment of it. He worked on a local farm, chopped wood and was employed in a local retail store. "It was something I set out to do. A lot of players were going through the academy system and I felt I needed to do something different to give me the edge. I was working full-time and playing for the love of it. I felt like I needed to get that attitude back in my game."

It has certainly worked. The Northampton man will win his eighth cap against Georgia and could yet force his way into the starting XV for the big matches to come. "A lot of people see me as competing directly with Tom Croft but I don't necessarily see that as the case," he says. "We can both play in the same back row together. I see myself as able to fit in at 6, 7 or 8. It's all about getting the balance right."

Above all, Wood is committed to showing that England mean business, regardless of off-field distractions. "There were plenty of mistakes against Argentina but it was a very hard-fought win and we're very proud of it. People underestimate the Argentinians. They made life very difficult for us. At the end of the day people won't remember the performances, they'll remember the wins and what stage of the competition we got to."